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Opinion: Guest Opinions

Harv Teitelbaum: Our retreat into worshiping idols

By Harv Teitelbaum

Posted:
12/22/2017 07:40:40 PM MST

Descending the mountain on that fateful day in the book of Genesis, Moses no doubt wondered how these new commandments would be received by the throngs waiting below. They were ex-slaves, simple people with their usual superstitions and fears. They had lived in a society accustomed to believing in idols: real, concrete forms you look at, worship, and direct your hopes and prayers to. But a set of ideals and principles? Would they really abandon the urge to believe in symbols for an ethical code on how to live, behave, and interact with each other? Might some even seek to deify the tablets themselves, elevating the stone above the words? Whatever happens, Moses may have thought, it's going to be a long day.

On Sept. 17, 1787, James Madison probably wondered how this new Constitution would be received by the citizens of the fledgling nation. Most were steeped in the European tradition of kings, queens and emperors who relied on projecting divine-like power to induce loyalty and devotion. Some Americans had already referred to George Washington as "Your Excellency", and there would be suggestions to refer to him as "Your Highness" once he assumed the presidency. There had even been calls to make him the first king in a new American monarchy. Against this, others had pointed to the lack of attention in the Constitution to the real liberties and protections they felt essential to the new republic.

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So by 1791 Madison and others had crafted the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Not only weren't these set forth in any hierarchical order of importance, but there were actually more than 10 distinct "rights" contained within them, resulting in the lumping together of some in order to maintain the preferred, perhaps even biblical, total of 10. But there was to be nothing sacred about placement or order, no particular right or rights superior or inferior, hopefully necessitating that any future conflicts between them be resolved only through the law and dialog around principles and ideals.

Madison and the others may have felt confident that citizens would accept and maintain their allegiance to this new concept of a government of ideals. A few years later, in 1797, Congress unanimously ratified, and President John Adams signed, the Treaty of Tripoli containing the language, "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." The flag itself was regularly used in clothing and there would even be a Civil War-era photograph of Lincoln and McClellan using a flag as a tablecloth.

In the mid-20th century, however, the tide seemed to shift. With real and perceived threats from foreign governments and ideologies, the voices of those who sought to elevate the symbols of America drowned out those who championed the primacy of constitutional ideals. The establishment of Flag Day and Flag Week, the first national flag desecration law, the official endorsement of the Pledge of Allegiance, then of its amended "under God" subversion, the "In God We Trust" currency requirement, and the official designation of a national anthem, would all occur between 1931 and 1968.

On Aug. 26, 2016 a professional athlete named Colin Kaepernick sat on a bench instead of standing during the playing of the national anthem at a football game. He said it was a statement about the treatment of black people in America, and the hypocrisy of honoring a song, a symbol of America, when considering the reality of broken promises and unequal treatment under the law, under the Constitution. His initial action, and its subsequent iterations, led to a cultural war over symbols of America versus the ideals of America, with seemingly everyone weighing in, from a president to business sponsors, from rock stars to the person on the street.

What would those who came before our era and helped push forward the ethic of a society placing ideals over symbols think of the current debate? Would they despair over how little has changed, how little their efforts seemed to have progressed over the centuries, over the millennia?

We have made great strides in many areas of human endeavor. But It can be frightening to wander through the unknown wilderness of our own future with only our faith in the moral and ethical potential of humanity to guide us. Always lurking, and occasionally rearing up during uncertain times, are those ancient retreats into worshipping of idols, be they woven, pledged, minted, or sung.

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